[35sUnlimited]

Let me start out by saying that I use my jeep more like a truck. I got in the habit of this from owning many early Broncos. They are about the same dimensions as the Unlimiteds. Two of them were half tops, and I really like the functional aspect of them. I learned from having them that it is nice to have a bulkhead between the cab and box year round as it keeps sand, straw, and misc. debris from blowing up front when the top was off.

Alright, now I’m gonna take my best stab at a technical write-up as I have had many questions about my soft half top on my 04 Unlimited since nobody manufactures one specifically for it. [*EDit* Mopar does make a half top for Unlimiteds, but I did not choose it because of its length, lack of sunrider feature, and spoiler effect on top. *Edit*] Excuse me for some of the blurry pics. I don’t know what is up with my camera lately. I’d guess it is operator error.

Half tops are only manufactured for up to ‘03 Wranglers. Best top and Smitty are the only manufacturers I am aware of. I had heard, and can now verify, the reason they won’t fit ‘04 and up is because the padding is thicker on the sport bars. Additionally, the deck cover would be 15” short for Unlimiteds. The following is how I dealt with the above, and how I modified other things to my needs:

I could not justify buying a $500.00 top not knowing whether or not it would work so I bought a used Bestop half top for $175 (including shipping), with some rash, from another forum member. Thanks Erik.

First I flipped the speaker pods forward because I wanted to keep them. They sound much better overhead, and the lighting is better also. This was easy. Swap them left and right, flip forward, drill holes for the pegs, tap holes for the bolts, and reconnect. Then I tried to fit the top. Sure enough it wouldn’t fit with padding on the sport bar no matter how hard I tried to stretch it. I only had to remove the padding from the vertical bar parallel to the front seats to make it work.



Next I had to trim the windshield interior plastic trim to allow room for the windshield header that comes with the half top. It is kinda a butch job, but it works.

Header bar held up slightly:


Header bar closed:


I put in a bulkhead from www.gr8tops.com . It fit nice and snug with no problems. You can put the thing in with weather-stripping, caulk, or nothing if you like. I used caulk since I wanted something waterproof, and I leave it in year round. I also lined the tub front and back after installing.





I then trimmed the carpet to fit up to the bulkhead. I do not use the carpet in the rear at all, but I did trim it to fit just in case I want to put it in sometime.



Next I had to make a belt rail on top of the bulkhead so I could have a way to make the half top air tight for the front two seats. I used a piece of 1”x 1” x 1/8” thick aluminum angle for this, and attached it with stainless nuts and bolts. I drilled the aluminum so the heads of the bolts would be countersunk since I didn’t want them to possibly snag the top.



I had to have an upholsterer sew a hard plastic strip to the top so it would slide into the belt rail I made. I also had the upholsterer sew on a deck cover made for Unlimiteds since the one that came with the top was 15” short because it is made for short wranglers.

I rarely have rare passengers, but on occasion I do. I wanted the seat to be accommodating so I moved the rear seat brackets back one hole to create more leg room since the bulkhead I put in ate into the original leg room. That pretty much takes care of what I had to do to make the thing work for me the way I wanted it to.

[35sUnlimited]

The following are pics of the top/deck in various positions:
Completely installed/enclosed


Sunrider feature opened


Rear window hanging down in open position. Mesh screen stays in place.


Top completely down. It lays nicely behind the front seats


Deck cover rolled up


I lost the pic, but the whole thing rolls up nice and fits behind the bulkhead perfect.

I love the top because of its versatility and ease of use. I only had two problems. 1) The strip to grab pull the top out of the door surrounds get caught between the door and seal when the door is shut and let rain drip on. I cut them off and no longer have thet problem. It is water tight. 2) The other problem I had was the fact that it was so noisy. I narrowed the noise down to the windshield header that comes with the top. I tried to make the one from OEM top work, but there is no way to do it. So until I figure out better way to abate the wind noise I added a wind deflector to my windshield rack. It does the trick, but I’m sure it makes the jeep even more aerodynamically challenged.

Here’s pics of the deflector:




As you can see I use the windshield light bar for a rack in additiion to the ones on the rear part of the sport bar. Great for my surf boards, lumber up to 16’, and whatever else I need to carry.

[jkulbeth]

I like it. It changes the look of the Unlimited completely ... Scrambler'esque. I also like the rack-bars over the rear bars on the cage. Bestop or someone needs to go into production with that. This is good information. Thanks for the write-up.

Got a question -- it looks like your seats are right up against the rear window. I can't tell very well from the photos, but how much clearance is there between the rear window and the headrest when the seats are slide completely back and reclined maybe a couple of notches?

[Dr. Marneaus]

i must say, you have an awesome looking jeep.

what is the big metal plate on the windshield light bar? is that sort of a faring?

edit: i'm and idiot, it IS a faring. i just didnt read

[billy mo]

That rocks! Looks great!

[Bishop Creek]

Looks really good. Looks like you have a body lift. Do you have 35" tires on it?

[Vacant Stare]

I saw your unlimited in another thread and was instantly jealous...thanks for telling us how you put that together. I love it.

[JeepRocks86]

Looks great. Now if you cut the back bars off, you could then get a cool hood decal that said "TJ Scrambler"

[35sUnlimited]

Originally Posted by jkulbeth

I like it. It changes the look of the Unlimited completely ... Scrambler'esque. I also like the rack-bars over the rear bars on the cage. Bestop or someone needs to go into production with that. This is good information. Thanks for the write-up.

Got a question -- it looks like your seats are right up against the rear window. I can't tell very well from the photos, but how much clearance is there between the rear window and the headrest when the seats are slide completely back and reclined maybe a couple of notches?

Thanks for the compliments.

The seat is hard against the back window. Keeps everything nice and tight though so no flapping in the wind. I think I keep my seat one from the furthest back position, and several clicks reclined. Like four or five I think.

[35sUnlimited]

Originally Posted by Bishop Creek

Looks really good. Looks like you have a body lift. Do you have 35" tires on it?

There is a 1.25" jks body lift, and yes 35" tires. I used to have 33's. The sig. has more detail.

[35sUnlimited]

Originally Posted by JeepRocks86

Looks great. Now if you cut the back bars off, you could then get a cool hood decal that said "TJ Scrambler"

Ohhhh, it is so tempting, but I need a way to carry long stuff. I actually cut the back part off for a hard half top I had temporarily, but put it back in. Here's pics with the hard top, and one with the soft top without it.

[35sUnlimited]

Hey Billy mo, Vacant stare, and Dr. Marneaus thanks for the compliments.

[Dr. Marneaus]

looks just like an AEV brute. that thing is so nice dude. lemmie know when you sell that beast, k?

[MtnClimber]

Regarding the windshield header attachment, were there any additional issues other than trimming the plastic windshield surround? I have heard that Jeep changed the windshield slightly for the '03 and newer TJ's.

How did you seal up the bulkhead on the top sides?

Any issues that I need to be aware of or concerned with when performing this halftop mod for the Unlimited TJ as I am about to pull the plug on getting all of the necessary pieces to do the mod?

Thx

[Bananahands]

holy resurrection...i was just searching for this thread...thinking of buying something like this http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=215827301&dealer_id=96775&car_year= 2006&search_type=both&num_records=25&keywordsfyc=& make=JEEP&model=WRANGLER&transmission=&distance=10 0&address=77611&make2=&advanced=&certified=&defaul t_sort=priceDESC&max_mileage=&max_price=&sort_type =priceDESC&min_price=&first_record=26&body_code=0& end_year=2008&color=&keywordsrep=&start_year=1997& drive=&pager.offset=25&engine=&style_flag=1&doors= &fuel=&cardist=100


very nice mustang btw...always wanted a '69 mach 1 myself